My favorite is any that I can get a good harvest from before the heat of spring does them in with powdery mildew. Mine are producing like crazy right now. I can't recall the name, but the package was one of the Stover brand at home depot. Also, I don't ever have a problem with the strings either. Unless they're overgrown pods. Otherwise, when I pick them at their peak(when the PEAS are not fully formed in the pod and the pod isn't bulging), the strings are so nonexistent that they're edible. Kevin

wow!! Laura...Lucky you!! living in TX snow is a miracle in itself... but this year was our winter for sure!! i had my first ever white x-mas this season a whole 3"... then when got another miracle....12.7" inches at our house!! all time record for our area....2/11/2010 Dogs/Cats and even the neighborhood kids were not sure what to do with snow LOL.... these are just a few pics i took... Needless to say i walked around for 6 hours that day with my camera hehehe 4000+ Pictures... Amy

That is a metal head of a season lady. I forget what you call them. I had a book as a child that had pictures for woman representing Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. She has grapes for hair. I wired her on a Linden tree that was dying. For a while I thought of carving the tree but it was too hard and required skill. You have a good camera like Glenda; I can't get that close to birds. You got the texture of the snow. The area around my bird feeder is nasty and would not look good if I could get a picture. I am on my last bag of sunflowers seeds. They have gone through lots of seed and suet.

I live in Chicago but was in Lexington, KY, area yesterday during the winter storm and for which the governor declared a state of emergency. For what the municipalities lacked in snow plows and salt trucks (understandably), private citizens made up for with 4WD trucks. Many seemed to be perusing the side streets helping vehicles out of ditches. I'm not exaggerating to claim there was a car in a ditch every 100 yards or so. As treacherous as it was, it was also heartwarming to witness scenes like this below... it ended up being 4 trucks pulling up and the drivers rallying one of them to help a minivan out of the ditch. Stay safe, everyone! (eta I was not driving when I took the pic below. I was in park with hazard lights on.)